


A silence only they can truly appreciate

by LastNameATree



Category: Homestuck, Homestuck Epilogues
Genre: Corpses, Earth C (Homestuck), F/M, Fluff and Angst, References to Depression, Romantic canon-adjacent relationship, Sadstuck, The Homestuck Epilogues: Candy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-11
Updated: 2020-03-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:28:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23103229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LastNameATree/pseuds/LastNameATree
Summary: Sollux and Aradia accompany Dead-Jade Calliope to the meteor and share a moment they've coalesced through a long journey together.Between them stand two worlds: one of canon and one divergent from it.
Relationships: Sollux Captor/Aradia Megido
Comments: 6
Kudos: 7





	A silence only they can truly appreciate

**Author's Note:**

> The following occurs between p.21 and p.24 of The Homestuck Epilogues: Candy.

The red luminescent flutter of Aradia’s wings puffs sweet fairy sparkles in Sollux’s eye-patched face. They careen through the pristine expanse of Earth C, its homogenous clouds of pure climate-equilibrium following suit. The air begins to coalesce and center on a mass of entropic swirls ahead. The Eye of the Storm waits patiently. Dusk lowers beyond the horizon with a howl of an outer wind.

Aradia holds Sollux around the width of his chest during their slow descent. Dead-Jade, her stockinged corpse body occupied by the stalwart cherub muse, leads them. They land on a mossy, vine-entwined structure far beyond the age of the Victory planet.

SOLLUX: where are we n0w?  
ARADIA: i think we’re back on the meteor  
ARADIA: but it’s old now  
ARADIA: very old!  
SOLLUX: i’ve had this nightmare bef0re.  
SOLLUX: fuck, 0ne of me’s died here remember?  
ARADIA: expect no less from the ominous cherub lady : )  
JADE: this is the point of convergence.  
ARADIA: 0_0  
ARADIA: what are we converging on?  
SOLLUX: leave her al0ne Aa.  


The trio settles down on the high slopes of the meteor. The remains of its stone edifice jot through the sky like an open-air observatory. Dead-Jade fixes into a meditative pose. Aradia throws her legs off the edge, while Sollux scrambles to test the distance between him and a freefall into abyss. 

ARADIA: how long do you think the rest have been here?  
SOLLUX: karkat l00ked pretty much the same as always.  
SOLLUX: th0ugh his face’s been a wrinkled grimace since his wriggling day s0 wh0 kn0ws, really.  
ARADIA: …  
SOLLUX: yeah they all s0und 0ld as fuck.  
ARADIA: they seem to have established some sort of consortium of dynamics  
ARADIA: it’s very unique  
SOLLUX: n0 kidding.  
ARADIA: do you think they’ve already had corpse parties for the rest of our friends?  
ARADIA: i mean  
ARADIA: the ones who died in this meteor?  
SOLLUX: lay 0ff it Aa.  
SOLLUX: besides, they’re n0thing but dust at this p0int.  


The duo sits side-by-side, appreciating the silence that came. It came naturally, mutually residing in their present continuity. For the two low-bloods -- their afflictions now receded and laid to rest -- the voices of doomed spirits and their tormenting propensities had imparted a welcoming praise for the quiet, the relaxed audial periphery, and the tiny, impeccable slight reverberations of the world around them. For the first time, they took in the world they were prophesied to create for as long as their lives seemed to have had any meaning.

The meteor languished in an empty field of unraveled grasslands and shrubberies. The cold stone monolith would have seemed completely juxtaposed to its surroundings, were in not for its aged countenance. Nature’s trail had crossed over the Medium’s stone enterprise. Decades in the past for it, but only hundreds of days for the two wanderers, it was on this very rock where their slow journey began. Where the decision of welcoming the deceased -- not as tormentors, but as old friends -- led them on a path of doomed timelines of various dispositions. The guiding menagerie of friends they crossed paths with, the episodic intervals of flights of fancy and congregations of vast sweeps of trolls together in one motion, with one goal. Until, with a fateful clash against an oppressing force, they landed here.

Again, in silence, the two trolls waited for what was next to come.

SOLLUX: this is getting a bit t00 much f0r me.  


Aradia squints slightly. Sollux wasn’t one for opening up like this.

ARADIA: oh : /  
ARADIA: what do you mean?  
SOLLUX: this.  
SOLLUX: seeing 0ur friends here.  
SOLLUX: it made me remember h0w miserable i used t0 be.  
ARADIA: you mean the corpse party?  
ARADIA: everyone was pretty much flustered by the cherub  
SOLLUX: sure there’s that.  
SOLLUX: i mean she *is* fucking weird t0 l00k at.  
SOLLUX: but f0r the l0ngest time n0w, i c0uldn’t remember why I used to resent being ar0und every0ne in general.  


Sollux clutches around until he finds Aradia’s palm betwixt his. He entwines with it, staggering against the pool of nothingness bearing underneath their feet.

SOLLUX: the v0ices 0f d00m didn’t disappear 0utright.  
SOLLUX: they just abstained 0nce i willed myself t0 relinquish that part 0f me.  
JADE: the nature of a doomed narrative unfloods surreptitiously on a mage.  
JADE: yet its wisdom carries an immeasurable weight on their conscience.  
ARADIA: i take it you know what she means  
ARADIA: sollux, you don’t have to follow along if that’s not what you want  
SOLLUX: it’s a diverging line.  
SOLLUX: bifurcated, even.  
SOLLUX: fuck.  


Aradia caresses his hand calmly, releasing a comforting smile as if knowing Sollux would perceive it through his patchworked gaze. From behind their shoulders, Dead-Jade remains still, her eyes fixed on the circulating clouds above.

SOLLUX: i made a ch0ice, a l0ng time ag0.  
SOLLUX: 0kay it was m0re like a c0uple of hundred days ag0.  
SOLLUX: that whatever inarguably shitty imminent d00m i *saw*, i w0uldn’t b0ther m0ping 0ver it.  
SOLLUX: because it w0uld, and did, happen anyways.  
ARADIA: you’re seeing it now  
SOLLUX: n0, i’m fucking blind.  
SOLLUX: yes, i’m seeing it n0w.  
ARADIA: and y0u d0n’t want t0 keep lingering 0n it.  
SOLLUX: i can’t *n0t* linger 0n it when i’m here.  
JADE: the precipice of the entwined narrative reaches us here.  
JADE: you are faced with the prince’s ignominy.  
SOLLUX: it’s n0t *just* them.  
SOLLUX: y0u’re-  
SOLLUX: Aradia, I kn0w y0u’re g0nna f0ll0w this thr0ugh t0 the end.  


The somatosensory connection lingers between the two troll palms. Sollux stares blankly, downcast and deep in thought, pondering over the essence of his intrusive inherited role. He has a morbid stillness on his face that Aradia finds oddly charming. His deep spiritual proximity to her, yet their apparent detachment from one-another under his conviction seem almost parabolic in nature. Their axiomatic lines symmetrically entwine, yet their continuous ends begin to infinitely diverge.

As the silence breaks into thought, there is no room to assess an alternative. Placid grief surmises the whole of their mutual moment of clarity. A corpse party without a corpse. Except for Jade, of course. A goodbye between a twin and their found sibling emerges and stays in a silence that only they can truly appreciate.

The billowing skies of canonicity blanket seamlessly over the shoulders of Atlas. Relevance, Truth, and Essentiality are the real burdens the Titan holds above his gargantuan form. The storm begins to weather his skin, his muscles tighten against the entropic clusters of chaos that spill canon through the Eye of the Storm, as if crying out the pent-up chaos within. The giant’s tensed limbs sway ever so gently over a land that bears peace, and if there was ever a time for him to bend a knee for a breath of respite, it would be now, knowing that Sollux and Aradia would then split into two worlds that would never converge again.

Between the twin giants, Earth and Venus, their short interlude of orbital pass will soon come to an end. Earth’s future has since been pre-ordained by canon. Where the meteor "will stay for millions more years, where it will remain indefinitely on a barren, desolate Earth C, waiting to host a single cherub child, chained to its bedroom". But for now, it will station its guest for a rapturous stay in a world of peace and non-essential irreverence. Wherever Venus would lie at that time, fluid in her state, melting like clockwork to a point of unfixed potential - canon, ironically, has not yet glanced its protrusions on her.

Aradia grins at the presupposition, or grins truly to herself, playing out her own narrative. She sways absentmindedly, twitting her wings to envelop the pair into a limitless swarm of her sweet fairy dust.

Sollux is taken aback as her voluptuous lips envelop his. They have a few but this moment is truly theirs. It’s not canon, it’s not canon divergent. It belongs to the silence that only they can truly appreciate. Their lips depart, and their foreheads attach. The beating hearts of two find a mutual rhythm before their hands are ultimately released. The flow continues.

SOLLUX: y0u know i’ll still keep y0u c0mpany until y0u leave.  
ARADIA: i know : )  
SOLLUX: n0t g0nna pretend t0 be excited ab0ut it, th0.  
JADE: the prince stirs within the fold.  
ARADIA: 0_0  


**Author's Note:**

> Here's some more fat-saturated candy for those who've always appreciated how important Sollux and Aradia's friendship is. I hope the mist from my eyes travels from this page to your own.
> 
> I was, as I think many, struck by the abrupt ending of the dynamic Sollux and Aradia duo at the finale of The Homestuck Epilogues: Meat. For me, personally, their relationship had always been flushed, and while I understand many might think differently, this is my homage to sending them off.
> 
> This is my first time really abusing the Html hemospectrum. Hope to continue in the future!
> 
> Thank you all, and a special wink for those who read through to the end.


End file.
